Supporting one another

Coach Carter is the true story of Ken Carter (Samuel Jackson), a successful sporting goods store owner, who in 1999 became head basketball coach for his old high school in a poor area of Richmond, California.

Dismayed by the attitudes of his players and their dismal performance on the court, Carter sets out to change both. He immediately imposes a strict regime that includes respectful behavior, a dress code, and good grades as a prerequisite of participation.

One particular player, Timo Cruz (Rick Gonzalez), initially refuses to accept the coach's demands and quits the team, only to return later with a desire to be reinstated. Timo asks Coach Carter what he has to do to play. Carter informs Cruz that he must complete 2,500 push-ups and 1,000 suicide drills by Friday - a task even the coach calls "impossible."

By Friday, Timo is short of both goals. Coach Carter, though impressed with what Timo has done, asks him to leave the gym. He has failed.

Suddenly, one of Timo's teammates, Jason (Channing Tatum), who previously had a personality conflict with Timo, steps forward saying, "I'll do push-ups for him. You said we're a team. One person struggles, we all struggle. One player triumphs, we all triumph. Right?"

As Coach Carter stands speechless, Jason drops to the floor and begins doing push-ups. One by one the entire team begins to join in to help Timo reach his goal.

That's our goal at Stone Church. To have a team of ministers (and everyone is a minister) who are reaching out to support and sustain everyone around them.

Our goal is to abandon territorialism in the kingdom and be willing to reach out to other ministries and programs to form a solid chain that cannot be broken - either by our own flesh or by the enemy himself.

Our goal is to stand united in the midst of diversity. Unity without diversity leads to organization death. Diversity without unity leads to organization chaos.

Part of what we experience may be, just might be because of our culture here on the south side of Chicago. Rough. Tough. My way or the highway. Strong opinions. A readiness to participate in conflict. Overstatements I know, yet how many times have I come across someone who "used to go to Stone Church" because they either didn't get their way or didn't agree with something?

Wow...forgive me for being so blunt.

Where are those who are willing to serve? Where are those who are willing to put the kingdom united as the priority when it comes to ministry?

We all have different opinions of how ministry should and could take place. That is to be expected. But molding our opinions into one united force is the key.

Will you join me in this? Will you make it a point to express an opinion, but then relax and go with the prayerful consensus of others?

Let's reach out and help one another, encourage one another, and lift up one another as we minister together - and maybe do a few push-ups at the same time.